David Strickland, head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said Thursday his agency will take a “hard look” at the power it has to set safety standards for automakers. Current authority, acquired in the 1960s and 1970s, may not be enough to oversee the technology used in modern vehicles, he said.
Strickland told a House panel that it is unclear whether the agency can regulate “in a way that allows the auto industry to build and sell safe products that the consumer wants to drive.”
The government may also require automakers to include brake override systems, a fix intended to prevent the type of runaway car incidents that some Toyota drivers have described, Strickland said. It would ensure that a driver stepping on the brakes can slow the vehicle even if the gas pedal is stuck or malfunctioning.
Thursday’s hearing of a panel of the House Energy and Commerce Committee was the fourth in Congress related to Toyota’s massive recalls for problems with faulty gas pedals and brake problems. The committee was focused on the transportation safety agency’s oversight of the auto industry, which has been criticized for being too lax on automakers.
Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., said the agency’s response to the Toyota recalls had been sluggish after suffering “years of stagnation in funding.” He said “ineptitude” and lack of money seem more of a problem than insufficient authority.